 The Doublers BBoard
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Author: timw
Date: 2012-04-29 12:34
Upcoming shows in my town are Into the Woods and Fiddler on the Roof.Hoping to hear from anyone out there with experience in either show. I'll probably be playing clarinet/ bass clarinet. I'm especially interested in how the "bottle scene" is done, difficluty, etc. In the movie and when I saw it recently on Broadway, the clarinet player participates onstage. Also, they are apparently in different keys. Thanks for any info.
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Author: davyd
Date: 2012-04-29 14:59
Fiddler has 2 clarinet books: one (reed 2 IIRC) has all the good solos, and the other (reed 3 IIRC) doubles bass clarinet. The bass clarinet requirement is not extensive: only one number in each act (again IIRC).
Whether you are on stage for the Bottle Dance depends on how it's staged; unlike the Fiddler, there's no explicit requirement to be so. The music for it is notated straightforwardly, with the expectation that you'll apply klezmer-style interpretation to it. Not sure what you mean by "in different keys". The first part of the solo is in C# minor, though IIRC it modulates later.
There are also important passages in Sabbath Prayer and To Life.
Into the woods: the single clarinet part calls for clarinets in Bb and A, but the A parts are not extensive, and can be transposed easily enough. As with any Sondheim, timing of entrances is as much of a challenge as anything else.
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Author: timw
Date: 2012-04-29 20:13
Thanks Davyd, that definitely helps. As to the different keys, I meant that I believe the stage version is in a different key than the Broadway version.
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Author: Jaysne
Date: 2012-05-04 17:42
I've done Fiddler several times and the clarinet player has always played in the pit for the bottle dance. It's a very exposed solo, so it's fine to have the player stay in the pit. That said, I never thought of the clarinet being on stage in that scene--it's a nice idea!
One thing to remember is that that solo needs to sound very rough and ethnic (klezmer-like) versus the symphonic sound in the rest of the score. One of my friends used a different mouthpiece just for the bottle dance to get that effect.
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